On a reference under Section 395 (1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, received from the learned Additional Sessions Judge, North Tripura, Dharmanagar in connection with Sessions Trial No. 48(NT/D) of 2001, this Criminal Reference Petition has been registered.

2. The facts leading to the registration of this case could be summarised thus :

On the basis of a charge sheet involving five accused persons including accused Shri Gopesh Debnath, appears to be a juvenile, in the commission of offence punishable under Section 376(1), 323 read with Section 34 of I.P.C., the learned Magistrate took cognizance and committed the case to the learned Additional Sessions Judge. After thorough perusal of the materials available and after hearing the learned counsel for the parties, the learned Additional Sessions Judge framed charge under Section 376(1) of the I.P.C. against the juvenile accused Shri Gopesh Debnath and under Section 323/34 I.P.C. against five accused persons including juvenile Gopesh Debnath. When the provisions of "The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000" (in short "the Juvenile Justice Act") was brought to the notice of the learned Additional